Euskal Oiloa ( Basque Thread)

[IdahoSpring]

Wow! They are very pretty.

What will you call their offspring?

I wanted to post some updated pics of my breeding trio. Our roo is enormous! His tail feathers are coming in beautifully! Both gals are now laying as of yesterday.

Hmm I was thinking about calling them basque chickens. Do you have another suggestion? Lol.
Yes she is very gray. And the more gold one is marraduna, correct? We will not hatch any of their offspring for a while, but it will be interesting when we do I appreciate the comments, do you think the darker one is a mix? These came from greenfire farms so I'm a little perturbed if you all think she isn't up to standard.

Either way, they will make beautiful babies I'm sure, but I'm looking for quality here, not quantity so if you think she is not of good standard I will have to pull her from the breeding trio.

What do you think of the Roos colors? Stature?

 

[Maggiesdad]

Hmm I was thinking about calling them basque chickens. Do you have another suggestion? Lol.
Yes she is very gray. And the more gold one is marraduna, correct? We will not hatch any of their offspring for a while, but it will be interesting when we do I appreciate the comments, do you think the darker one is a mix? These came from greenfire farms so I'm a little perturbed if you all think she isn't up to standard.

Either way, they will make beautiful babies I'm sure, but I'm looking for quality here, not quantity so if you think she is not of good standard I will have to pull her from the breeding trio.

What do you think of the Roos colors? Stature?

:^) - when I read my post the next day, I thought, Wow, that didn't come off right at all! I was in a rush, sorry. Some times its better to just not say anything at all...

I know folks say you have to build the barn first, but you also have to keep in mind that like begets like, and searching for the proper color out of that particular trio could take years. Of course they will cluck, lay eggs and taste just like chicken, but if you are seriously considering breeding to the standard, then you need to select wisely when putting your breeding pen together. The Marraduna's color pattern is much more difficult to breed successfully than a single color, ie; red, black or white, and with North America's limited genetic stock, will take years to get them cleaned back up. The closer you are to the standard when you start, the shorter the process of getting your line there. That's why you would be money ahead to start a breeding flock from started birds rather than hatching eggs from who knows where. Just my opinion, and that's not worth much, probably just one cent. lol

It's had to tell anything about your cockerel from that angle.

Glen

 

[Flat Rock farm]

@ IdahoSpring in regards to your trio. What can I say they are EO's and they are lovely even if not the "correct" feather/leg colour, just look at the grey girls face so EO . As Maggiesdad has said the marraduna is the hardest colour to get right. I have been breeding EO's for 4 years now and I am closer to getting them right than when I first started out, lots of hatching and lots of culling. This is just my opinion so take it for whatever it's worth (maybe not much, lol) I think you will have a lot of culls if you breed the rooster to the grey hen, if you breed him to the lighter hen you may get some decent offspring but he has a lot of grey in his chest, they are to be gold. He also has white legs and beak as well as the grey hen, they should be yellow. Now that said I have a yellow legged rooster and have him over some hens with white legs but I have gotten mostly all yellow legs this year. Leg/beak colour and combs are the easier to correct but feather colour, that's the hard one!!! Your second hen has potential paired with the right rooster. I agree with MD if you could get a few birds from a started breeding flock you would be farther ahead.
This is one of my cockerels, see the difference in chest /feather colour.

 

[HaplessRunner]

Here is a picture of my main cockerel from the Virginia Poultry Breeders Association Show.





This is a picture of him last spring.

 

[naturespace]

My baby Basque adopted some baby Ameraucana's. 

I keep my babies inside (I know, bad practice but I do it anyway) until they are 2 - 3 weeks old.  We have a broody box in an old playhouse outside.  It's complete with a heat lamp but it is still significantly colder than inside.  I recently put 3 AM's out in the broody box with some 5 - 6 wk old Basque chicks.  

It was SOOOO cute!  I wish I'd have gotten a picture.  One of the Basque pullets decided to adopt these tiny Ameraucana chicks.  She would fluff herself out and they hid in her feathers (while under the light). She is still a baby herself so this was sweet!  The first couple nights I was concerned but the little Basque chick took good care of the new babies.  What amazing mother instincts!  She is speckled, not the ginger color but I think she's staying anyway.  

It's official.  Basque are awesome!

That is a sweet story. Sounds like she will make a great broody.

 

[CackleJoy]

I have a good starter cockerel.
Out of 4, 2 are decent looking. This one has a crooked comb but I like his coloring.

 

[CackleJoy]

Help! A bunch of my straight run chicks are speckled. I didn't realize how speckled an EOB could get. I also have SFH. Is this an EOB or SFH? It's all wrong so I'm selling it. However, it would be best not to sell an EOB as a SFH.

 

[ronott1]

Help! A bunch of my straight run chicks are speckled. I didn't realize how speckled an EOB could get. I also have SFH. Is this an EOB or SFH? It's all wrong so I'm selling it. However, it would be best not to sell an EOB as a SFH.

Good Question!

I have seen EOs that look a bit close to the pattern, but Mine have either hat white or yellow legs. I think you have something else there.

 

[HaplessRunner]

Help! A bunch of my straight run chicks are speckled. I didn't realize how speckled an EOB could get. I also have SFH. Is this an EOB or SFH? It's all wrong so I'm selling it. However, it would be best not to sell an EOB as a SFH.

This is an EO pullet that is showing the mille fleur pattern. She also shows white legs and a white beak so she will not be good stock unless bred to a cockerel that has yellow legs,a yellow beak, and more appropriate color pattens. The yellow is dominant. I have a pullet with this color pattern as well as a cockerel.

I had intended to cull the cockerel but he just fought the dominant SFH rooster and won. It was quite a drawn out battle. I did not intervene because I expected it be a short skirmish but I guess he just decided that he had enough getting chased around. It was quite the battle. While his white legs, beak and some white sickle feathers in the tail are automatic disqualifiers, he is such a robust bird that I may use him to cross with my laying flock. I can always use some more meat on my layers and culled cockerels.

 

[ronott1]

This is an EO pullet that is showing the mille fleur pattern. She also shows white legs and a white beak so she will not be good stock unless bred to a cockerel that has yellow legs,a yellow beak, and more appropriate color pattens. The yellow is dominant. I have a pullet with this color pattern as well as a cockerel.

I had intended to cull the cockerel but he just fought the dominant SFH rooster and won. It was quite a drawn out battle. I did not intervene because I expected it be a short skirmish but I guess he just decided that he had enough getting chased around. It was quite the battle. While his white legs, beak and some white sickle feathers in the tail are automatic disqualifiers, he is such a robust bird that I may use him to cross with my laying flock. I can always use some more meat on my layers and culled cockerels.

The legs look green or grey to me. It could be the light. She is very pretty though.